"We lived across the road from 'The Mystery' where we looked forward every year to the arrival of the Liverpool Show. Me and my mates, the Studholmes, the Blevins, the Murphys and the Roberts would 'bunk in' just where they kept all the horses. It was dead easy. Just a quick climb over the temporary picket fence and we were in. We'd spend all day in there till the sun went down. We loved all the displays in the main show ring. There would be tanks and planes and military hardware and of course the famous Morris Dancing too. One of my clearest memories was making a beeline for a caravan stall that sold flavoured milk. FAB!

"As well as the Mystery where we played footie and cricket all summer. We also had 'the Gypsy' which was on the bend at the bottom of South Drive. It was derelict ground and it made a great scrambling track for me and my mates to race around. There must have been a big house on the site at some time, why it was demolished we never knew. Maybe it was a fire or maybe it was bombed in the War. Maybe someone out there could shed light on that. Eventually it was built on again and our scrambling track was gone forever.

"We also had the Wavertree cricket ground, the field at the back of the convent in North Drive where there was a garden party every year and of course there was the cinder track leading to Mabel Fletcher grounds and at the very top the grounds of the Crawford's biscuit factory and Sandown Hall. Our Lady's used to have their annual sports day on the Mabel Fletcher fields. It was there I laid claim to being the undefeated 'Slow Bicycle' race champion for two years, the second year not even on my own bike. I lent mine to somebody because they never had one and I used an over sized girls racer as it was easier to balance on!! As if this wasn't enough, on the other side of the Mystery we had a short hop through Greenbank Park and then straight into Sefton Park. Great days indeed."

(To be continued)